Policy Watch

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Policy Watch is our regular policy update service, covering national and international developments in the world of education. We try to keep things simple, sharing the latest news and information with you through weekly updates, monthly summaries, papers and events.

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As head of UK education policy at Pearson, Steve’s been running the Policy Watch service for almost 20 years. He’ll keep you informed on all things education, along with the rest of his subscribers – there were more than 10,000 at the last count!

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Fewer announcements this week as the summer recess kicks in but some interesting developments all the same.

The week summed up

For schools, the Education Secretary continued her engagement strategy with teachers by focusing on teacher workloads, for FE the government sought to clarify what constitutes an apprenticeship while HE re-iterated its case for international students as part of its staying in Europe campaign. A week then which has seen the first supermarket advertise its ‘Back to School’ autumn range has equally seen a number of what will be big autumn policy issues also given an early airing.

Schools first where many are busy preparing themselves for the release of exam results which in the case of A’ levels is now just a couple of weeks away. Head teachers have been lining up in the media this week to offer advice to both students and parents on how to cope with the big day: “Book a lovely breakfast for 10.00am. They won’t eat much before. Neither will you.” For teachers, however, the work on preparing for another year goes on and despite last year’s ‘strategy,’ the workload issue remains as pertinent as ever. Speaking at the Teach First Impact Conference this week, the Education Secretary highlighted three further ways to ease the pain: new working groups to address the 3 biggest concerns (marking, planning and use of resources, and data management) new standards for CPD; and support for the College of Teaching. Teacher morale is a long-standing issue in the profession but equally now for the government as concerns rise about teacher recruitment and retention. Whether these latest measures will help, remains to be seen.

Over at FE, while BIS reviews its cost operations as part of the 2015 Spending Review and the ‘bigger, better’ college model gathers momentum, apprenticeships remain the big game in town. This week the government launched a short consultation to help clarify how to define a ‘genuine’ apprenticeship. This has been an issue in the past and could become one again with the push to achieve the 3m target but the hope is that by making it an offence to apply the term to non-standard training and adding the ultimate sanction of a fine, it will help deter further misappropriation. Final details will appear in the forthcoming Enterprise Bill due this autumn.

Finally HE where visas and restrictions on international students remain one of a number of concerns and where there’s also been activity this week. The Home Affairs Committee has announced it will hold an inquiry into the Tier 2 visa cap, introduced 4 years ago but now feared to be preventing skilled workers from taking up important skilled jobs. And second, Universities UK has launched its campaign against a Brexit, arguing that leaving Europe could inflict lasting damage to UKHE research, student numbers and jobs. Another issue building up for the autumn.

The BIS Dept who launched a brief consultation to help formalise the usage of the apprenticeships brand

Nick Boles, the Skills Minister, who announced that the government intends to push ahead with the publication of local council score cards each summer, showing how well councils were dealing with 16-19 NEETs

Education Secretary Nicky Morgan who announced three more working groups to try and ease teachers’ workloads in a speech to the Teach First Impact Conference

Labour leadership contender Jeremy Corbyn who called for the creation of a National Education Service which like the NHS could provide all-through education ‘free at the point of delivery’

John Pugh MP, appointed Spokesperson for Education in the new Lib-Dem set-up

The Institute of Directors whose latest survey of business leaders found varying degrees of support for devolving powers to the regions with just over 50% supporting the devolution of responsibilities over skills

The Social Mobility Commission whose latest commissioned report argued that many disadvantaged young people faced not only a glass ceiling but also a glass floor, as more advantaged families sought to ensure their offspring didn’t fall too far behind

The Independent Commission on Fees which published its final report calling among other things for the OBR to head a ‘value for money’ study into the whole fee and loan system

Universities UK who launched its ‘Universities for Europe’ campaign designed to ensure the HE sector provides a strong ‘staying in voice’ come the referendum

HEFCE who published its latest (2014/15) facts and figures publication covering main trends and developments in HE in England over the last year

Anthony McClaran, who will leave his post as Chief Executive of QAA and take up a similar post in Australia in October

Professor Chris Husbands, Director of the UCL Institute of Education, who has been appointed as Vice-Chancellor of Sheffield Hallam University from Jan 2016

Sheffield University who has announced that it will open up for clearing two weeks earlier than usual so that it’s ready for any influx of numbers following the lifting of the numbers cap on students this year

“We do homework, but I don’t insist teachers mark it because we don’t really know who’s done it. @natedtrust.” @RealGeoffBarton

Quote(s) of the week

“As autonomous organisations it is up to colleges manage their own budgets.” The FE Minister responds to a Parliamentary question on FE finances

“There’s not a single one of the 39 LEPs that hasn’t put skills and productivity at the heart of its strategic thinking.” Ann Limb, chair of the S.E. Midlands LEP, on the importance of local skills planning

“Ban e mails after 5.00pm to help teachers cope with workload.” The Secretary of State’s latest thoughts on how to reduce teachers’ workloads

“No one should criticise parents for doing the best for their children. That’s what we all want. But Britain is a long way from being a meritocratic society when the less able can do better in life that the more able.” Alan Milburn, Chair of the Social Mobility Commission, introduces the Commission’s latest research

“A rule of thumb is: would I be happy for anything I post on Twitter or Facebook to be on the front page of the Daily Mail?” Head teacher and tweeter Geoff Barton on the ‘rules’ of social media for teachers

“To help teens develop a sense of independence and financial responsibility, one especially valuable holiday activity is enabling your son or daughter to manage the family budget for a week- making them responsible for the food shop and planning and cooking dinner for the family.” A brave head teacher suggests one way to help develop life skills in young people

“We always recommend that our students have a Plan A and a Plan B.” Head teachers offer their top tips for A level results day

“Special measures school improves after banning slang words including ‘coz’ and ‘innit.’ “ How one all-girls school raised performance.

Number(s) of the week

0.7%. Economic growth for the UK in the last quarter (April – June,) up from 0.4% in the previous quarter, leading to optimistic forecasts for the remainder of the year

75. The number of employers on the government’s latest name and shame list for failing to pay the National Minimum Wage

125,000. The number of EU students in British universities (and whose numbers could reduce if we exit the EU according to Universities UK)

46%. The percentage of parents in the UK who questioned the value of higher education in a survey conducted by HSBC

Alternative Providers of HE. The government responds to earlier consultation by confirming measures intended to secure the quality of provision.

Speeches of the month

Jo Johnson’s 1 July UUK speech sets out the three core manifesto objectives (teaching excellence/value for money/extending opportunity) that the Minister intends to pursue

Nicky Morgan’s 1 July Sutton Trust speech calls for schools to apply a more targeted approach to the use of pupil premium funds

George Osborne’s 8 July Budget speech includes significant changes to welfare, living wage, apprenticeship funding and HE as part of a new, 5 year settlement with the country

Tristram Hunt’s 9 July Education Reform speech summons the spirit of Jim Callaghan’s Great debate as he calls for ‘bottom-up’ thinking on a Nat Bacc and other matters

Nick Gibb’s 9 July Education Reform speech grapples with the purpose of education and comes up with a love of knowledge, preparation for life and developing the skills for the future

Jo Johnson’s 16 July science speech outlines the ingredients of what’s termed a ‘One Nation Science’ strategy built around regional mapping, STEM support and greater diversity

Nicky Morgan’s 16 July creative arts speech declares her and her government’s unwavering support for the creative arts in schools

Nicky Morgan’s 29 July Teach First speech offers teachers more working groups to help consider reductions in workloads, better CPD and support for the College of Teaching.

Quotes of the month

“While many firms do a brilliant job training their workforces, there are too many large companies who leave the training to others and take a free ride on the system.” The Chancellor on the case for an apprenticeship levy

“We expect cuts to unprotected depts between 2015/16 and 2019/20 of around £19bn to be announced in the Spending Review.” The Institute of Fiscal Studies on what lies ahead

“I used to send very nasty letter to parents who didn’t turn up to parents’ evening and say you’re not going to get your son’s or daughter’s report until you come and see me.” Sir Michael Wilshaw on how to deal with ‘feckless’ parents

“At the time we were laughed at by almost everybody. Now most schools are taking up the teaching of character, well-being and resilience.” Sir Anthony Seldon on school happiness

“A teacher cannot function on Twitter like someone who works in a supermarket or an accountancy firm.” Head teacher Geoff Barton highlights the dangers of social media.

Word or phrase of the month

This week provided further clear evidence that the government is determined to stick with its economic plan as further cuts were announced for the FE and HE sectors and the Chancellor outlined his plans for the 2015 Spending Review.

The week summed up

‘Fixing the roof while the sun is shining’ is the mantra but for many this week the mood has been more cloudy than sunny.

FE first, where the Funding Agency’s announcement of immediate cuts to ESOL and adults skills non-apprenticeship budgets coincided with a withering report from the National Audit Office on the financial health of the sector as a whole. The cuts come as a response to the Chancellor’s recent call for a further £450m from this year’s dept budget and are part of a sequence. Whether the sector is facing its own Groundhog Day moment as some headlines suggested or not, the issue is that the sector has had to endure a sustained period of cuts, that its been left to operate in a market that’s become increasingly unstructured (“Many colleges are competing for fewer students against an increasing diversity of provision”) and that financial forecasting on all sides has failed to recognise the extent of the problem. The government has responded by announcing a major structural review of the post-16 sector that will kick off in earnest this autumn and run through to next spring. The direction of travel has already been indicated in previous policy statements but is writ large in its latest pronouncement: “we will need to move towards fewer, often larger, more resilient and efficient providers.” It’s being left pretty much to local stakeholders to sort out although the government will issue guidelines and will be represented but a key issue will be how far school post-16 providers are involved as well.

As for HE, which a contributor in the Times Higher this week described as being “in a perpetual financial crisis,” the Funding Agency has equally had to announce further cuts this week to meet the £150m in savings required for the 2015/16 financial year. Its meant that teaching grants as well some specific funds such as those used to support increases in student numbers will be hit. Again some of this is immediate although the full scale may not become apparent until institutional adjustments are confirmed in October.

All of which means that many people will be keeping a wary eye on how this year’s Spending Review which was formally launched by the Chancellor this week and under which future spending details will be announced in late November, shapes up. The approach being adopted is similar to that in 2010 with depts being asked to model best and worst case scenarios in an effort to find the £20bn of savings that the Chancellor is looking for. School age pupils remain protected, the others will be hoping for the best case scenario, that’s cuts of 25% rather than 40%. Some sunshine.

People/organisations in the news this week

The Prime Minister who announced a five-part strategy to tackle extremism which included new duties on local authorities, schools and families and an interim report on community cohesion expected early next year

The Chancellor who called on depts to model two scenarios of cuts, one based on 25% and the other based on 40%, as he set out his plans for the 2015 Spending Review

The BIS Dept who outlined the new conditions for alternative providers of higher education as it responded to earlier consultation on Alternative Providers of HE

The BIS Dept who have launched a 12 week consultation on freezing the student loan repayment threshold

The BIS Dept who announced an overhaul of the post-16 college sector though a series of locally driven area-based reviews due to run over the next nine months

The FE/Skills Minister who posted his regular end-of-term letter to the sector confirming developments in a number of key areas and highlighting the importance of the sector’s role in meeting a number of the skill needs under the Productivity Plan

David Meller and Richard Harrington MP, Joint Chairs of the Apprenticeship Delivery Board, tasked with advising on how best to expand the apprenticeship programme

The government who issued its response to the previous Education Committee report into apprenticeships and traineeships indicating that it had accepted all their recommendations bar three (on careers plans, work exp for 14-16 yr olds and 14-16 Young Apprenticeships)

HEFCE who announced reductions to the teaching grant and to funds set aside to support any increases in student numbers as they outlined savings required for 2015/16

HEFCE who published a series of commissioned reports looking into ways of ensuring students from different backgrounds achieve success in HE

The Institute of Fiscal Studies who examined the recent Budget announcements on HE student financing and concluded that both lower and middle income families and students would be hit hardest by the respective changes

GSK, Rolls Royce and Pfizer, the top three companies collaborating on research projects with UK universities according to the recent review of HE-Business research collaboration (Microsoft was the only technology company in the top ten)

Martin McQuillan, Pro-Vice Chancellor of Research at Kingston University whose blog for this week’s WonkHE briefing looked at HE developments in the light of current policy changes

The National Audit Office whose report on the financial sustainability of the FE sector raised concerns about the number of colleges facing financial difficulties both now and in the future as funding continues to tighten

The Skills Funding Agency who announced further cuts to ESOL and non-apprenticeship funding allocations with immediate effect as the BIS Dept sought to meet further savings from current budgets

The Skills Funding Agency who reported on how it had delivered against its five strategic objectives in its latest annual report and accounts

The local LEP and FE providers in Cornwall who will pool resources and approaches to employment and skills provision from 2017 under the region’s Devolution Deal

The Education and Training Foundation who have been asked to lead further developments to help strengthen the position of functional skills

Ofsted who defended its role as it added its response to the previous Education Committee’s Trojan Horse Inquiry

The Sutton Trust who examined the issue of academy chains on the attainment gap and whose commissioned report called for other high-performing providers to be involved in school improvement

The DfE who issued guidance to schools and local authorities on the use of cloud software and data protection

The Schools Minister who announced that the Dept was taking further steps to secure some community languages at GCSE and A level

Schools Week who provided a summary overview of Ofsted inspections over the last term and noted that a higher proportion of secondary schools had received a good or outstanding than over the previous two terms

‘Photograph’ by Ed Sheeran, ‘Shake it off’ by Taylor Swift and ‘Happy’ by Pharrell Williams, the top three tear jerker/rabble rouser songs being played in final assemblies for Year 6 this summer.

Tweet(s) of the week

“The only role where we’ve not developed an apprenticeship is mine.” @NickBoles

“The gap year is back, but with purpose - not so much “Gap Yah” as fill-in-the-CV-gaps year.” @JISC

“What will we call colleges that specialise in remedial English and maths? Post-secondary moderns.” @OldDitch

“The only reason to keep national exams at 16 is because we still don’t trust our schools or our teachers.” @TheTimes

“It’s not been a summer of contentment in the education world.” @russellhobby

Acronym(s) of the week

DLHE. The Destination of Leavers from HE, an annual national survey produced by the HE Statistics Agency, which will be refreshed and reviewed to meet changing demands.

Quote(s) of the week

“The decline in the financial health of the sector has been quicker than indicated by colleges’ plans and current forecasts suggest that the number of colleges under strain is set to rise rapidly.” The National Audit Office takes the financial pulse of the FE sector

“We will need to move towards fewer, often larger, more resilient and efficient providers.” BIS suggests what it’s looking for from its new area-based reviews of college provision

“I believe that Functional Skills should continue to be the main alternative English and maths qualifications to GCSEs.’ The FE Minister commissions further work on FS

“We would of course survive and I’m sure thrive if we carried on independently but we can be better together.” Sir Frank McLoughlin, Chief Exec of City and Islington College as his College eyes up closer collaboration with nearby Westminster Kingsway College

“Usually reform needs a cheque or a plan and at the moment we have neither. Hence the drive for productivity.@alanmilburn.” @IPPR

What to look out for next week

It’s been a tough week for FE with difficult questions flying around about its long-term funding and positioning.

FE is nothing however if not resilient and as the Minister explained in his end-of-term letter to the sector this week, it has a major role to play in helping deliver a range of essential skills, the 3m apprenticeships, parts of the Productivity Plan and probably much of the anticipated L4/5 provision. That’s as maybe but these are clearly difficult times. Here’s a summary of what’s been a potentially defining week for the FE sector.

What's been happening around funding?

As an unprotected area, FE has been pretty much under the funding cosh since 2010 if not before but there’ve been three major developments this week that have heightened concerns.

First the Funding Agency announced that it was going to have to introduce an immediate 3.9% cut in non-apprenticeship and discretionary learner support allocations and also withdraw funding from mandated ESOL provision. FE’s not alone in having to take a hit, HE has had to do much the same as the Dept strives to meet the extra £450m demanded by the Chancellor from this year’s budget allocation. Colleges have been granted a couple of months grace to assess the implications before submitting their latest financial plans but with 16-19 funding still facing difficulties, it could mean some deft footwork on institutional plans is needed.

Second, the National Audit Office published its promised report on the financial health of the FE sector and emerged shaking its head. Broadly, the financial pulse of the sector wasn’t as sound as some forecasts and college plans had been hoping for, financial problems had been building up for some time, a number of colleges were struggling and the fear was that as many as 70 could be in dire financial straits by the end of the 2015/16 financial year. Most people familiar with the sector would recognise the scenario identified in the report: “reductions and changing priorities in public funding, falling numbers of 16-18 year olds, and more competition from schools and universities have combined to create a challenging educational and financial climate for many colleges.” The report clearly laid bare some of the issues and it was no wonder that the new Chair of the Public Accounts Committee described it as “deeply alarming.”

Third, the Chancellor confirmed that he was looking for further cuts as he launched the process for the latest Spending Review, the outcomes of which will be announced on November 25. In essence, the government is looking for a further £20bn of cuts in public spending, some of which will come through the sales of public sector land, the integration and devolution of services and the ubiquitous ‘efficiencies’ but the rest from Dept savings. As with the 2010 Review, Depts have been asked to model best and worst case scenarios of 25% and 40% ‘savings’ respectively. BIS has already offered up HE maintenance loans and proposed an employer’s levy for apprenticeships while the sector has taken a hit on non-apprenticeship adult skill funding and had to accept pay rises restricted to 1% for four years. The hope is that with more time granted for meeting the surplus target and the economy strengthening, the pain will be limited but it’ll be well into November before the bargaining is complete and the results known.

So what did the Minister have to say in his latest end-of-term letter?

Three things stood out from this letter. First was the Minister’s acknowledgement that the current cuts amounted to 13% of what was currently being expected from BIS, a sharp reminder of the bigger picture.

Second, he underlined the importance of the proposed new area-based reviews, launched in a short BIS Paper at the start of the week and likely to have significant impact on post-16 college provision in the future. The procedure is not new, it was used under the LSC and has already been applied to college provision in East Anglia, and once rolled out from September will apply across all regions but is clearly being used to bring a sense of order and focus to what has been allowed to become a chaotic area of provision. As the National Audit Office noted in its report: “many colleges are competing for fewer students against an increasing diversity of provision…for example, around 300 schools, including academies and free schools have opened new sixth forms in the past five years and many schools are trying to retain 16-18 year olds.” The government is hoping that “these reviews will provide an opportunity for institutions and localities to restructure their provision to ensure it is tailored to the changing context” or in plain speak create: “fewer, often larger, more resilient and efficient providers.” The FE Commissioner’s recent report provides a number of models, federations, partnerships, collaborations and so on, but it’ll be up to local steering groups to determine best fit. The government wants to move fast and have the reviews completed by next March but this may be a tall order; the remit, framework and local structures required for carrying out such important reviews all need to be sorted first and there’s a lot of local players and local agendas at stake.

And third a few interesting updates, notably for example the commissioning of further work on functional skills. This will be led by the Education and Training Foundation, will build on earlier reviews by both them and Ofqual, and aim to position functional skills as “credible” alternatives to GCSEs, something that will please many. That said, the government intends to align the new GCSE good pass in English and maths with the 16-19 English and maths funding condition over time. As for other things: the consultation on outcome based success measures has now moved to the autumn and a further update on the workforce strategy, especially the recruitment of English and maths specialists, is expected shortly.

What next?

It looks like a large chunk of colleges’ time in the autumn will be taken up with the local area-based re-structuring process. Structures not standards? Perhaps but equally an opportunity to clarify and re-focus on who should be doing what at a local level and of course standards/quality expectations will never be far away. As the Minister put it, all colleges are expected to participate, not just those with financial or quality issues. The format and structure of these are not very clear at present and the government has promised more detailed guidance shortly but the issue will be how far school-based post-16 providers are involved in the process, only then can a genuine rationalisation occur.

Second, it’s worth remembering that along with English and maths, funding for apprenticeships and traineeships remains ‘protected’ and what’s called ‘credible’ growth numbers will be supported. The securing of apprenticeship numbers and the raising of achievement levels in English and maths remain important priorities for the government and if you factor in the growing interest in strengthening the higher-level technical route, the case for colleges with training providers, as all-through providers of skills solutions at both local and national level, becomes irresistible.

Third, we haven’t even mentioned the social mobility agenda yet. It’s the FE sector that provides much of the driving force for this, particularly for young people, as the current House of Lords Committee Inquiry is discovering. Pitch into that the latest earn or learn welfare reforms and FE offers a ready-made system for both social and economic recovery.

We’ve had over 200 pages of official economic and skills planning documents over the last couple of weeks in the shape of the Summer Budget and the government’s Productivity Plan.

If you pitch in some of the accompanying reports like the OBR’s (Office for Budget Responsibility) latest economic outlook let alone our two Pearson sponsored reports this week, one with the CBI on employers’ views on education and skills and the other with the HE Policy Institute on higher-level technical skills, it’s more like 500 pages. We’re not unknown in this country for the quantity of our skills reports and the government has come in promising to prioritise this area and so is likely to add to this total but where does this all leave the education and skills agenda?

The current picture

Four points stand out here.

1. We’ve been here before of course in terms of skills policy reports and announcements but there is a sense that things may be different this time because different conditions are in place. An improving economy, a pragmatic government keen to make its mark, a man with a plan in the shape of the Chancellor, a legislative framework for local growth planning, a healthy employer appetite for a stronger talent pipeline…it’s not all positives of course, real concerns persist about adult skills funding for a start, let alone about local infrastructures, employer engagement and it’s no surprise that the Productivity Plan is called ‘Fixing the foundations’ but the opportunity is there.

2. A shift towards higher-level technical and professional skills. Again not new and subject to various incursions over the years from Lord Mandelson’s skills activism to Vince Cable’s bridging the FE/HE divide and where various initiatives have been tried to fill what Ministers have often referred to as the ‘membrane between FE and HE’ but where the case for action has now become almost imperative. As the CBI/Pearson employers’ survey reported just this week: “the balance of firms expecting to need more employees with higher skills stands at +65% in 2015 and has been close to or above +60% each year since 2010.” In another Pearson sponsored report this week, the HE Policy Institute has set out three principles needed to sort out this critical transition phase including: dedicated institutions, recognised work-related qualifications and simplifying barriers to employer engagement. Both pre and post-election, policy is moving in this direction.

3. The apprenticeship levy. A surprising announcement to some although it’s been on the table for some time and has an historical base to it. Operating details about the levy remain limited at this time although we have the bones of a likely digital transfer scheme. There are strong views, both for and against, about the effectiveness or otherwise of a levy. Both employers and training providers for example have their own reservations largely about whether cost compunction changes the nature of the employer – employee relationship. We’ll have to wait until the autumn for further details but in the interim, an excellent summary of the whole levy issue can be found on the Association of Colleges website.

4. As indicated above, although we’ve had a buzz of activity and a number of announcements recently, we’re still very much at broad brush stage. There are two reasons for this. One is that so much hinges on the forthcoming Spending Review later this year as this will set out dept spending details for the core part of this government and is thus the critical piece of the jigsaw. And the other is that the government has promised consultations on a number of the features and these will not be complete until later in the year. It’s building up to being a busy second half of the year.

What’s been said for schools, FE and HE

This is a summary of the key pointers from both the recent Budget and Productivity Plan for schools, FE and HE respectively.

Schools

Overview. No great change. The main disappointments are that there’s little on school funding where 16-19 is under particular pressure and not much on skills provision in the curriculum for young people.

Specifics

Trialling of the new Jobcentre Plus Employment Adviser role working with schools and sixth-form colleges on building understanding of local labour market opportunities (Budget)

Pay, 1% per year for next four years (Budget)

Support for qual reform, the EBacc core and STEM subjects (Productivity Plan)

Support for school system reform and tackling ‘coasting’ (Productivity Plan).

FE

Overview. Notable pointers about apprenticeships, higher-level skills, local growth and some potential system change as a result.

Specifics

Support for current approach to apprenticeships including the push on Degree Apprenticeships and the targets for public sector bodies (Productivity Plan)

Support for the levy system and a promise of further engagement with business on it (Productivity Plan)

The introduction of a Youth Obligation for 18-21 yr olds (Budget)

A pledge to develop a system of employer sponsored Institutes of Technology “to deliver high standard provision at L3/4/5” (Productivity Plan)

More rationalisation of qualifications and a shift towards locally determined provision (Productivity Plan)

A big push on a re-designated skills system, built around local planning and commissioning with more regions encouraged (Budget and Productivity Plan)